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1
Conversation 1

[Greetings]
GGU

(Students introduce themselves in a classroom.)

aGG

GGUG1.1

ZUG1.2

aGG

GU

G1.3GXU

aGG

GU

G1.3GXU

GGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

GGGGGGGGGGG

40

Lesson 1 Greetings

NEW WORDS
NOUN
1
2

freshman
sophomore

NUMBER

junior

G2
3

senior
lesson, chapter

college student
the United States

person, people
greeting

school year
student

PRONOUN

Korea

GhumU

I (= plain)

G1

ADJECTIVE
OP to be well
(Hi; Hello; How
are you?)
COPULA
GOVP
PARTICLE

to be (equation)
also, too
topic particle
(as for)

NEW EXPRESSIONS
1.G is a greeting that asks about the other persons well-being or good
health. This expression can be used at any time of the day. The appropriate response would be a return greeting of UG
2. Reference to the speaker himself/herself (first person pronoun).
I

As for me . . .

I also . . .

Plain form

Humble form

3. In English, the given name comes first, and the family name follows it, as in
Steve Wilson. In Korean, however, as in many other Asian cultures, the family
name comes first, and the given name follows it. In GSG is the
family name, and Gis the given name.
4. Korean uses two sets of numbers, native Korean numbers and Sino-Korean
numbers (G4.2). The following are basic Sino-Korean numbers:
0

10

1GGGGGGGG 41

Note that the number 0 is read as or . For telephone numbers 0 is read as ,

and in other cases it is read as . The telephone number 258-5037 is OPG
U
Exercises
1. Fill in the blanks with appropriate words.

Michael
freshman

Sophia
sophomore

Steve
junior

(1) G

GGUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

(2) G

GGGU

(3)GG

GGUGGGGG

2. Practice reading the following telephone numbers.

(1)

119

(2)

370-6481

(3)

590-2406

(4)

964-0387

(5)

(367) 801-4592

GRAMMAR
G1.1

Equational expressions : N1V N2V

Examples
(1)
G
G
G

GaGGG
G
GGGGG
aG G
G
G

GUG
3UGGGG
UG G
1UG

(2)

GGUGG

Im Steve.
Im a junior.
Im Yumi Kim.
Im a freshman.
Sophia Wang is a student.

42

Lesson 1 Greetings

Notes
1. Topic-comment structure
All the examples above have topic-comment structure. In Korean, topic-comment
structure is the basic sentence type. Topic-comment structure is one of the fundamental ways of conveying ideas, where the speaker picks a person, an idea, or an
object as the topic and contributes the subsequent statement(s) (=comments) in
describing the selected item.
Topic (N1V)

Comment (N2V)

(i)

GU

(ii)

GGGGGGG

GU

(iii)

GGGGGGT

2U

The most typical use of topic-comment structure is in identifying statements such

as the above examples, where equational expressions (N1 = N2) are used. In (i),
for example,GGMichael is the topic, andG . . . is a college
student is the comment. In (ii), GI is the topic, andG . . . am Yumi
Kim is the comment. In (iii), the topic is omitted, because it is redundant from
the preceding context (G1.2).
2. Equational expression: N1 = N2
An equational expression contains two nouns, where the first noun N1 is part of
the topic, and the second noun N2 is part of the comment.
The topic particleGVGindicates that the attached noun is the topic described
by the subsequent comment. is used when the noun ends in a consonant as in
in (i), whereas is used when the noun ends in a vowel as in in
(ii). When the topic contains more than one noun, the particle is attached to the
last noun, as in SGSGGGYumi, Michael, and Steve
are college students.
The copula Gto be (equation) is attached to the second noun N2
to complete the comment structure. When N2 ends in a consonant,GG
(conjugated form of ) is used as in , whereas the contracted
form is used when N2 ends in a vowel as in U
Exercises
1. Fill in the blanks with or U
(1)

GU

(2)

(Susie)GGGU

1GGGGGGGG 43

(3)

GGGU

(4)

(Susan)GG4UG

(5)

GXU

2. To the given nouns, add orG.

(1)

aGG

GU

(2)

____________________________

(3)

aG

____________________________

(4)

(Jenny)a ____________________________

(5)

G(Lisa)aG ____________________________

3. Formulate the following equational expressions in Korean.

(1)

Michael = freshman
GXU

(2)

Yumi = Korean
________________________________________

(3)

Steve = junior
________________________________________

(4)

Sophia = college student

________________________________________

G1.2

Omission of redundant elements

Example
(1)

aGG

?
GG.
3.

How are [you]?

I am Steve Wilson.
[I] am a junior.

aGG G

?
.

How are [you]?

[I] am Yumi Kim.

G
G

Notes
1. In Korean, subjects/topics are often omitted when they are obvious, as can be
seen in the above examples.

44

Lesson 1 Greetings

2. Omissions are not limited to subjects. Any element can be omitted as long as
the context makes the referent clear. In the above examples, not only the reference to the speaker [I] but also to the listener [you] is omitted as in U
Exercise
1. Introduce yourself with your name and your year in school, as specified. Avoid
redundancy as much as you can.
(1)

[SG3SGG]
GUGG

(2)G

ZU

GU

SG1SGGGGG
__________________ __________________ ___________________

(3)

[your own information]

__________________ __________________ ___________________

Comparing items: V vs.

G1.3

Examples
(1)
G

GGUG
GGUG

(2)
G

aG
aGGGGGGG

f
G3U
G3UG

[different]

[parallel]

The particles V and Gare used to compare two or more items:

G
G

V The items are different or contrastive.

The items are parallel.

Exercise
1. Fill in the blanks with the particles V or U
(1)

A:

1U

B:

3U

1GGGGGGGG 45

(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)

A:

G[U

B:

_____ 4UG

A:

GGUG

B:

OJessica)_____ GGUG

A:

GGUG

B:

_____ GUG

A:

G3U

B:

_____ 2U

CULTURE
1. Greetings with a bow
In Korea, bowing shows courtesy when you greet someone unless the other party
is a junior. The degree of the bow depends on such factors as the degree of politeness, seniority, and social status. To show the highest degree of politeness, you
bend your head and waist about 45. Common courtesy to most people is shown
by bending your head and waist about 15 with face downward. It is considered
to be impolite to stare directly at someone (especially an older person) in Korea,
while avoiding eye contact implies lack of respect or interest in Western culture.
In a very casual meeting with a person about your age, nodding your head
would be enough.
Although bowing is the typical greeting in Korea, handshaking is also very
common. Usually, a
younger person bows
first, going on to shake
hands if the older person
starts handshaking. The
younger person often
bows while shaking hands
with one or both hands,
unlike Western people.
Most Koreans hold hands
softly, not tightly. In other
words, the limp handshake doesnt imply any
negative impression to the
other person.